


let us remain strong against the encroaching rot

by Tobi_Black



Series: Let Us 'verse [24]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Clone Rebellion, Alternate Universe - Rebellion on Naboo, F/M, Gen, Naboo Culture, Offscreen Canonical Character Death, Post-Order 66, Pre-Order 66, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 10:12:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17020719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tobi_Black/pseuds/Tobi_Black
Summary: Rabé hardly remembered a time where Padmé hadn’t been a part of her life, and had always imagined a life where they grew old together. Even as they got older and so much of their world changed, as they evolved into new things and new relationships, Rabé had not prepared for a world where she outlived her oldest friend.The only constant thing was that everything they did, they did for Naboo and her freedom.





	1. Chapter 1

**32 BBY**

Rabé had known Padmé Nabierré for years when the other girl had chosen to put herself forward as a candidate for Queen of Naboo, even if they had only been thirteen when she’d won the election.

She and Sabé might have been twins, but more than once their parents had joked during their childhood that they might as well been triplets considering how the three of them had been inseparable. They’d shared everything, and kept no secrets for each other, and so they’d been the first to know when Padmé had thought about entering public office at twelve, and they’d been the first to support her when she’d done so.

Sabé had been the one to consider how with their similar faces, they could easily be candidates for the Queen’s handmaidens if Padmé won. So, as Padmé won the hearts of their people, they’d trained to act as her body doubles and as her bodyguards.

Her sister had joked about then, when Padmé joined them for practice some days, few could tell them apart and that instead of one queen, Naboo would gain three with Padmé.

Padmé had laughed, and said it was for the best, then they could split the paperwork that her father had warned her about and no one would know.

Rabé remembered that laughter when Padmé became queen, and there was little time for fun and games between them anymore. Not as they tried to get an audience with the Gungan to try and mend a centuries’ old rift between their peoples and were rebuffed time and time again. Not as they tried to argue that Naboo didn’t require a standing military, but that some sort of weapons training should be mandatory. Not as Kelé, another handmaiden and a new friend, died while pretending to be Padmé during a court dinner. Not as they argued with their senate about selling their excess water to planets like Tatooine and using the money to free slaves.

Another handmaiden and friend, Lalé, died when Naboo was invaded.

They didn’t have time to grieve as thousands of Naboo were rounded up and pushed out of the cities and into camps, and the droids not caring about how many they shot herding them this way or that, nor about how those camps were not prepared for living prisoners.

Lalé died as she’d lived, with a smile on her face.

She’d shoved Padmé around a corner, taken up a fallen guard’s blaster, then ran in another direction pretending to be guiding Padmé away, loudly. She’d been shot in the back as the droids talked to each other about how only the Queen was required to be taken alive.

Rabé had seen how Padmé nearly doubled back to stay with Lalé as she’d died, that she’d only hesitated because it would make the other girl’s sacrifice for nothing, before Lalé had yelled out for Padmé to _run_.

Sabé had grabbed one arm, and she the other, and they’d pulled Padmé away the few steps it had taken her to go along. Eirtaé pulling Yané and Saché from where they’d stopped, staring in horror because Lalé had been everything to them and she’d _died_ in front of them.

None of them had said anything about the tears in all of their eyes, just ran.

If they had been made of anything less than they were, they would have burst into tears of relief when they ran into the two Jedi.

~

Rabé had shared a look with her twin after Padmé had left with the Jedi Master Jinn, while in the guise of a handmaiden to the Queen, who her twin was currently dressed as and who Eirtaé was attending with dazed eyes, barely present in the now as she worried over the other two of their number.

They had not agreed with Padmé leaving them behind here, but neither had been able to say anything without ruining their cover. It did not matter that they had their suspicions that the two Jedi had figured out which of them was really the Queen, they would not confirm it without due cause. Not when arguing to go with Padmé was better done in private, where the three of them could disagree all they wanted and the only ones to know would be them and Captain Panaka.

Tatooine was a dangerous planet and they had lost too many friends already today to be willing to risk another for a fit of rebellion like she wanted to say this was.

But they understood why Padmé had gone, and it didn’t matter if it was the main reason or a pleasant consequence, because no matter how much they tried, it would be safer for her to be with the Jedi Master and Padmé _had_ to reach the Senate.

Their wounded pride was secondary to her safety.

~

Sabé stood next to her as Padmé stood in front of the Senate in full regalia as Queen Amidala, and they listened in silence as she passionately pleaded with the Senate to come to Naboo’s aid, and all but demanding that help be deployed in defense of her citizens.

Rabé couldn’t be prouder of her friend as she challenged the Senate to get off their fat asses and come to the aid of defenseless people being brutalized, murdered, starved, by the Trade Federation while they sat there and debated if they even had the _right_ to.

Just watching them deliberate and go in circles, when every moment they wasted was another one of her people’s life snuffed out, it made her doubt in the good the Senate did.

It broke her heart seeing them squabble and accuse and refuse to consider their presence, their words, their _authority as sovereign of Naboo_ as valid. It would hurt no one to send Jedi to Naboo, prepared to help and fight ‘if what they said was true’, if for no other reason than to take them seriously as one of the oldest members of the Republic. Doing nothing killed their people with inaction.

Then Senator Palpatine suggested calling a Vote of No Confidence in their current Chancellor, if he would not rally the Senate for their cause.

Sabé had shared a look with her, because Chancellor Valorum was clearly sympathetic and was already in favor of sending the Jedi to Naboo’s aid. They both knew it was not his fault, and a Vote would do nothing but cause power to change hands, when the real problem here was the corruption and divided loyalties of the Senators between their pocketbooks and the Republic.

Padmé hesitated to call for a Vote.

The clock was ticking for their people though and they had to try everything, so she _did_ because she needed to do _something_ or Lalé’s death was in vain.

Then she left the convincing and wrangling of the Senate to come to their aid in the hands of their Senator, while she walked to the side of the two Jedi who had offered their help to see this through.

~

When the battle was over, and their losses had started to be counted, they’d celebrated their survival.

They would mourn for each name they recognized on the list of the dead being compiled, for each person who couldn’t be reached nor found, but that would be for tomorrow.

Today they would celebrate their victory, and the person who had made it possible by destroying the droid’s command-ship: Anakin Skywalker.

Padmé had been smiling as she’d hugged the boy and thanked him personally for helping to save her people, and they’d smiled at how red the boy had gone from attention from his ‘Angel’.

Sabé had elbowed her sharply when they’d seen the two Jedi enter the room.

Rabé, with a single _look_ , shut down the pilot who had opened his mouth to loudly greet them, not needing more than a second to see that Obi-Wan wasn’t supporting the older man but dragging the taller Jedi beside him while crying.

They’d run to him, and helped direct him to a room less crowded so he could grieve in peace. Because he was already trying to stifle his sobs, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes, trying to bring himself under control as to imitate the serenity Jedi were known for if only outwardly.

He was failing though, trying and trying but failing, unable to stop the tears running down his cheeks, radiating his distress where even they, Force-nulls, could sense it while never letting go of the older man even after they had.

If anyone ever tried to tell them Jedi were emotion-less, they would never believe it now, because right in front of them was pure emotion. It was more emotion than they knew anyone else to feel, consuming him, like his very _soul_ had been torn in two with the loss of his Master.

They were sure that if he’d been alone, and wouldn’t be disturbed by people looking for him, he’d be wailing.

Sabé looked to the side, trying to give him as much space as they could offer without leaving so he could grieve without judgement, and she choked on a cry.

Rabé followed her sister’s gaze and knew why she had turned into her shoulder and was now crying herself.

Because they had unknowingly led Obi-Wan to the room Lalé had died in. Her body had been moved though, dragged to a wall to sit up with her blaster in hand and two handmaiden’s robes laid over her legs. Yané and Saché had gone back for her, then disappeared in the chaos.

Seeing those robes, which they were rarely without while acting as a Handmaiden, told them why they’d not seen either of them since they’d returned to Naboo.

Rabé looked at the Jedi, and could see him struggling to stop crying, and before she thought about it, she reached out and caught his arm then tugged him closer. He went without protest, still crying and she didn’t say anything as she tried to rub comforting circles into both his back as well as her sister’s, and let her own tears flow freely.

They stayed there until their tears slowed, then they went and did as duty commanded each of them.

Returning to their charges and wearing masks of calm over their still-rampant grief.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #I wonder what happened with the Handmaidens after Phantom Menace #I created what I couldn't find

**28 BBY**

The Invasion, as it came to be called, changed many things on Naboo.

Despite his many duties as Chancellor, Palpatine returned to Naboo as often as his duties allowed, to support Padmé through leading Naboo while the worse of the five-day occupation was cleaned up and dealt with.

Rabé couldn’t help but notice how the few times she and Sabé managed to interrupt their time together with time-sensitive matters, that he told stories of the boy Anakin almost more than they discussed her duties as she started her second and final term as Queen, and what she would do after.

That he fostered that soft spot she’d had for Anakin almost to the detriment to her duties.

It hadn’t made sense why he would, but perhaps it was why she’d encouraged Sabé to pretend to be the Queen more often while she continued to try and remind Padmé of her duty to Naboo.

Perhaps it was also why when Yané and Saché got into contact with her after a year since Lalé had died, she’d only told her twin and Eirtaé. Particularly when they had told them that they would honor Lalé’s sacrifice as she would have wanted.

Peace on Naboo held after the Trade Federation was expelled from their planet, but the people no longer believed whole-heartedly nor agreed unanimously that the best course of action to keep that peace was by refusing the temptation of a standing army.

Yané and Saché had grieved for their loss, but they had not been deaf in their grief to how people whispered about how if they’d fought back more effectively, Naboo might not have been taken so easily and fewer of their most vulnerable would not have died. So, they’d started passing on the knowledge they’d learned as Handmaidens, which had led to them beginning to set up small militias in towns they’d passed through in the last five years going to all the places they and Lalé had planned to visit once they’d had the money and the time.

Eirtaé had been the one to suggest they keep this quiet; keep these militias, unofficial.

Sabé had almost argued, but they all remembered how Viceroy Nute Gunray had been completely confident that the Senate would ratify the treaty he’d tried to force Padmé to sign to legitimize the Trade Federation’s occupation. It had been a question forgotten in the immediate chaos of trying to get aid for Naboo and then dealing with everything that had happened in the five-days they’d been away getting that aid, but it had never been answered.

They’d never asked it aloud because it very heavily suggested someone in the Senate had approved, had even planned the Trade Federation taking a trade embargo and making it an invasion. They’d had no idea who to trust, and Padmé had been so very busy with her duties to bother with what most would consider mere suspicions – and possibly compromised if that weird feeling about Palpatine meant anything – so they’d kept it between themselves.

Captain Panaka was told out of necessity because none of them had the experience to orchestrate thousands of militias and hide them from any official attention.

He’d looked sad when they told them that the people wanted to be able to fight back if they were ever attacked again, but that they didn’t trust the Senate with the chance a portion of it had been behind the attack in the first place so they wanted it kept quiet.

He’d helped though, talking Yané and Saché through how best to do that, then sending two of his most trusted soldiers to aid them further.

Eirtaé eventually asked that she be transferred into the Royal Security Forces beneath Captain Panaka, to take over direct command of the mobilizing groups all over Naboo, when the number of militias doubled, tripled, in the span of a year with more than just Yané and Saché fueling this.

Rabé wished her the best of luck.


	3. Chapter 3

**27 BBY**

As per tradition, near the end of the second year of the four-year royal term, elections began again.

Padmé had won her second term with little competition coming forward to challenge her as she had her predecessor, not after her well-viewed handling of the Invasion. But nearly seven years had passed, and it was time a successor was elected then trained before the end of the eighth year.

Rabé couldn’t help but think as she watched the three candidates that put themselves forward debate, that they were _young_.

She felt positively ancient standing next to them as her twentieth birth-day approached, even if they were still all older than when Padmé had announced she was putting herself forward. It didn’t matter that they were all at least sixteen, one even nineteen.

There was a youthful innocence in their faces that she, her sister, Padmé, Eirtaé, and Lalé, had lost in degrees and in inches when Kelé had died pretending to be Queen Amidala.

Died because Padmé had been visiting all the houses that had supported King Veruda in his corrupt reign, to see if any true supporters remained that would cause trouble. Padmé had not been feeling well, so Kelé had volunteered to be Queen that day when Padmé had previously refused to let any of them be her for her safety in these meetings.

Kelé had died an ugly death, slow and painful from a neurotoxin with no viable antidote, only eased by Captain Panaka offering the other girl his blaster so she could end her own suffering. She had, and Padmé had sworn no Handmaiden would take her place in danger again.

Then the Invasion had happened, and Sabé had volunteered when Captain Panaka insisted.

Rabé looked at these kids, and could see Padmé arguing against opponents triple her age, holding her own, as they stood in the wings and stared down the private guards escorting King Veruda as he watched.

She was glad no one as young as they’d been was here.

They’d been fighting every precedent of several hundred years by coming forth before eighteen, let alone sixteen, to challenge King Veruda. Padmé had been interested in public service in the Senate originally, but she’d heard the whispers of their people, saw the corruption surrounding the King and his men, and hadn’t been able to let it stand.

King Veruda had nearly been assured a third term out of lack of viable opponents, because anyone who had come forth quickly withdrew out of fear or because of bribes. Padmé’s father had assured her that they could take care of themselves, then she’d refused to back down.

People had been leery of letting a thirteen-year-old girl be Queen, but despite her youth, she’d charmed Naboo with her earnestness and hope for a better future for Naboo.

Rabé found herself starting to smile as the sixteen-year-old stuttered but stood her ground.

She would root for Jamillia.

~

Jamillia was elected, even if the people of Naboo had asked Padmé to run for a third term and Jamillia hadn’t hesitated to step aside to let her.

Padmé told her and Sabé she’d thought about it. That it was a tempting offer. Naboo had no laws against a third term for elected officials – an example being that Palpatine would have been in his seventh term if he hadn’t become Chancellor instead – but no Sovereign had exceeded two terms in decades.

It wasn’t necessary with peace, and the regular habit of changing the guard every decade kept them from getting stuck in bad habits.

That ultimately, she’d turned down the honor of being _wanted_ for a third term because she’d challenged King Veruda for sovereignty because he had been corrupt, and that she did not want to be remembered for becoming the very thing she’d once sworn to stand against.

That absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the road to hell was paved with good intentions.

Then, once her successor was secured and her training begun while also shadowing Padmé in her duties, Padmé looked at being a Senator once more.

~

**25 BBY**

Rabé kept quiet as Padmé announced her intention to become one of Naboo’s Senators in her final days as Queen, Jamillia beaming and clearly supportive – and later she would find that she was the one to bring up how Padmé should – with Palpatine at her shoulder and giving his support, when neither she nor Sabé had been aware of this.

They’d known she intended to run for Senator after she was no longer Queen, but Padmé had acted as if this was in the future, after they all had a chance to breathe outside the spotlight and live their lives without duties owed to anyone. That the future turned out to be the next Senate session, as elections for Naboo’s Senators were up and she won in a landslide.

Sabé had reached out a hand for her to take as the people of Naboo cheered for Padmé, approving of her plan to be a Senator.

Reaffirming like they had almost a decade prior that where one of them went, the other two intended to follow.

They would follow Padmé to Coruscant when she went, even after their Handmaiden’s robes were retired and hung beside those of Kelé, Lalé, Yané, Saché, and Eirtaé, in the Hall of Kings and Queens, to be ever-more by the side of the their Royal, surrounding the portrait commissioned those first days as Sovereign.


	4. Chapter 4

**22 BBY**

Rabé calmly pretended to sip at the tea the Chancellor had offered her, and stuffed her worry and concern and fear for Padmé in a box then lobbed it as far as she could before she smiled coolly, “What is it that you wanted, Chancellor?”

He returned the smile with a genial edge that made her skin crawl.

“Your mistress, Senator Amidala, is indisposed at the moment, yes?”

That wasn’t the way she’d put it, considering the last transmission she’d gotten from Padmé was that Anakin had told her Obi-Wan was being held captive on Geonosis and instead of letting the foolish boy be stopped by his Order, she’d aided him and they were currently on their way there.

Which she was aware he was at least partially aware of, if not fully, so she didn’t dignify it with a verbal response.

“Now, the Jedi Order are moving in on Geonosis with their Clone Army to rescue Jedi Master Kenobi, Anakin, and Senator Amidala. However, word has yet to get out confirming it is _Padm_ _é_ there.”

He sipped at his tea even as she fought to not grind her teeth waiting for him to continue.

“It would be . . _devastating_ to the people of Naboo, to the people of the Republic really, if Padmé died there like that. It would rally the people against the Separatists if they killed her for seeking to find out the wellbeing of an old friend when he is kidnapped by Count Dooku, but it also would be demoralizing. Her passion for the down-trodden and for the little people would be more of a benefit in the long run of a war.”

Rabé nearly froze as she realized where he was going with that little speech, but forced herself to pretend to take another sip.

“If she dies on Geonosis, would you be willing to take up your old role as her double?”

Her sister would have reacted badly to this request, she knew.

Sabé had played at being Queen Amidala too many times to react well to the idea of extended time in another event like the Invasion while lots of people relied on her to make the hard choices. She’d developed nightmares about the fate of Yané and Saché after they’d left the two on Naboo during the Invasion and they’d returned to them gone, unable to sleep well with the idea in her head that the reason they hadn’t found them was because they were dead. Even after the younger girls had gotten back into contact with them, Sabé hadn’t slept well since.

It would have been cruel to put her twin in that situation again.

Before she’d gotten here, Rabé couldn’t have said why she’d answered the Chancellor’s summons in her sister’s place, beyond the fact that in the last couple of years of watching him closely in the Senate, she no longer felt she could trust his honeyed words.

She was glad she had come instead of Sabé though, now.

Setting her teacup down, having drank nothing of it, Rabé smiled with a flash of teeth.

“You underestimate Padmé, Chancellor. I trust absolutely and without doubt, that she will come back alive. She learned from the Invasion not to hesitate when the intent to hurt, to kill, is there, because peace must be fought for. By hook, crook, and gun, if needed.”

He took another sip of his tea.

“Then I shall trust in Padmé, as you do.”


	5. Chapter 5

Rabé had smiled, as had her sister, while they stood at Padmé’s side for her wedding.

They were happy for her, because Anakin was the most awkward duckling in all the pond, but he adored Padmé. He loved her completely, both as a former queen, and as a person.

He made Padmé smile and laugh like she hadn’t since the Invasion, and for that, they could put aside their misgivings about the two marrying in secret.

Sabé had been uncomfortable with the idea of the two marrying, as had she. Partially because they knew personally that Jedi could love and love deeply, and they worried what would happen if Anakin’s duty to the Order and to the Republic ever crossed against his love of Padmé. Partially because they insisted on it being a secret and telling only her family.

They’d seen Artoo filming the whole thing and known quickly that it hadn’t been at the request of Anakin, but of Obi-Wan, and the fact that the older man knew and hadn’t stopped them eased some of their misgivings.

They knew if there were real concerns, Obi-Wan would have found a way to delay Anakin.

Their main objection about the two wedding in _secret_ without even a word to Obi-Wan, was because he was their friend – not just Padmé’s – and they didn’t want to lie to him. Particularly after they’d confided in him about their unease about the Chancellor and he’d taken them seriously, then urged them to be careful in their investigations. He’d offered his assistance, in either an official capacity or just as a friend, and they’d accepted his help.

When the two had started talking marriage, they’d tried to get them to tell Obi-Wan. As they were aware that with how Anakin had been less than subtle the entire time he’d been together with Padmé – even as far back as when they’d _met_ , if they were being truthful – Obi-Wan knew, had probably known within minutes of seeing Anakin in the same room as Padmé that the two had been circling each other in some sort of capacity, and every time they’d met after was proof.

Obi-Wan had kept their secret, even when they thought perhaps it would have been better to have at least said something, because Anakin couldn’t be convinced that his Master would, if not _approve_ , at least not _disapprove_. And Padmé felt guilty enough for not telling him when they started dating, putting it off again and again until Anakin was ready to tell him, that now she didn’t know how to bring it up.

Rabé thought it wasn’t right that Obi-Wan wasn’t here, but it hadn’t been their decision so they settled for taking photos to send to him.

They knew Obi-Wan would put them next to the letters from ‘Owen’, the photos of Shmi Skywalker’s wedding to Cleigg Lars, photos of Qui-Gon Jinn, and tens of people they didn’t know. It probably would be one of his favorites from among his secret stash, knowing him.


	6. Chapter 6

**21 BBY**

Rabé had been very busy with the onset of the Wars, aiding Padmé in her duties while she and her sister also switched places with their friend periodically so she did not burn out under the scrutiny that had befallen Padmé in regards to her part in the start of the Wars.

It was difficult to balance preparing for the constant judging from the Senate, with official judgement still pending with access to Geonosis restricted to emergency basis only and Padmé under a sort of probation until then, while still fulfilling official duties for Naboo alongside Jar Jar Binks.

More so, with trying to find Nute Gunray’s supporter in the Senate for the Invasion without alerting anyone about it.

It left her endlessly amazed her that Obi-Wan, now a High General in the GAR managed as much as he did with orchestrating the three Clone Attack Battalions while personally handling his own six hundred and sixty men.

She didn’t know how he found the time when she hardly could keep up with her own duties.

Particularly because he sent her periodic, sporadic, updates about his own investigations into Palpatine.

Sabé pointed out how he must have had his own suspicions about Palpatine to not hesitate to do so, but they could appreciate that he neither had told them that the suspicions were ungrounded, they were hysterical, or that they should let him handle it, _and_ had taken it seriously.

Just because Obi-Wan had found a few _discrepancies_ in the early political life of Palpatine with a ten-year absence from any sort of records, did not mean it felt good to be right.

~

With Eirtaé now a Captain in the Royal Security Forces on Naboo, and leading the behind-the-scenes effort to coordinate and combine Yané and Saché’s militias with the official forces in preparation of an attack on Naboo, Rabé made sure to stay in contact.

When possible to do so without attracting attention to it, she or Sabé would travel to Naboo so they could confer in person when the little code they had wasn’t sufficient to convey something.

The fact that Jamillia had not been elected for a second term – which the woman had not seemed upset by, even going so far as telling her directly that she had expected it, following such a popular and much-loved leader as Padmé – provided one such opportunity.

Jamillia even supplied a direct invitation for the three of them that would have been hard to refuse with both their former positions as Queen and Handmaidens, and as Senator and Aides, if it hadn’t been exactly what they’d wanted.

Padmé had smiled and given her support alongside Jamillia to the new Queen, Neeyutnee.

Eirtaé had stood next to Quarsh Panaka as the current and future heads of the Royal Security Forces.

They’d watched Neeyutnee come out in full ceremonial dress, face painted white but bare of other markings. Her handmaiden had come forth with purple face-paint to compliment the black robes she wore, modeled after the ones Jamillia had donned with the start of the Wars, and started applying a pair of triangles to her cheeks above the customary dots.

Once they were done, the handmaiden handed the face-paint over to Jamillia, and like Padmé had for her, she applied the scar of remembrance on her lower lip.

While the crowd watched this all, Rabé felt her hand grabbed and she smiled as she squeezed gently back, “Are you ready, Yané?”

Saché wrapped an arm around her waist, slipping a black-market blaster to the small of her waist out of sight of anyone else, “As ready as we can be with just training. If the fight is brought to us, Naboo will not be defenseless. I can promise this in Lalé’s name.”

~ 

After the Separatist droids had been routed from Naboo, the investigative force barely making it to the swamps in time to see a pair of Naboo citizens demolish the small squad that had managed to infiltrate their planet, Padmé had demanded an explanation.

Because the pair had immediately straightened at the sight of them specifically and performed a three-finger salute like Lalé had liked to give when she was being cheeky. Then they’d run off before they could be identified, and Gregar Typho had said, “Ah, those two were overzealous. They were supposed to just scout, but I can’t blame them for taking action after losing family in the Invasion.”

Obi-Wan had dragged Anakin away to report the threat to Naboo had been taken care of, as Rabé had flashed a hand-sign for ‘secret’ so that Padmé would hold her tongue until they were alone. Sabé had then explained once it was just the four of them, as she’d inspected the work of two of the militia.

Padmé had asked why all the secrecy.

Gregar had explained that the people had no want to be militarized; that they only wanted to be able to defend their family and their home if it came down to that. Again.

Rabé had recognized that this was the perfect moment to expand that, to explain the doubts they had on Palpatine, that she and Rabé and Eirtaé thought he might have been behind the Invasion.

Obi-Wan had believed them about Palpatine, but Padmé looked up to him – as did Anakin, and Padmé trusted his judgement – and she **doubted** if _she_ would believe _them_ over _him_.

She said nothing.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #when you see The End coming

**20 BBY**

Rabé had watched as the Wars took their toll on Anakin. It changed him, changed _all_ of them.

Her sister got sharper, losing hope that this would be over without it all exploding in their faces after they couldn’t find _definite_ proof they could take to the Senate that Palpatine had been behind the Invasion when they _knew_ it was _somewhere_ , and his power only grew greater with every emergency power he took.

Padmé grew quieter, fighting every inch Palpatine took but she was one voice being drowned out in the cheers of approval and had to choose her battles to win her war.

Eirtaé got harder, unable to think of a day where the preparations they’d made did not end with Naboo at war, not because they’d made it so like their ancestors had once feared, but because there was no choice but to _fight_ if they wished to remain _free_.

The few times they saw Obi-Wan, he looked tired and sad, and it was a look all the Jedi had because they’d never been built for war and now that was all they knew.

Anakin grew angrier and angrier, believing liars and traitors were all around him because more and more of his men died and no one seemed to _care_.

She didn’t know how it changed herself, just knew it did, but she had to hold it together when they were fracturing and the cracks between them were getting bigger and bigger, and they couldn’t afford to fall apart.

~

Things had been quiet for once, and Rabé had spent all day waiting for the other shoe to drop while she’d left Padmé’s apartment for a breather after Anakin had shown up. He’d immediately softened from the near permanent half-scowl he’d been wearing, and smiled softly while brushing aside an errant hair, “Hey, Angel, you doing good?”

She’d left to give them a moment alone, because _once_ she’d stayed there after they’d gotten married, thinking to work through some of Padmé’s work, and she’d regretted it _so much_. There were things she never wanted to know about Padmé, and anything to do with listening to her have sex was one of those.

Rabé had come home to Anakin all smiles, cradling Padmé close with his hands over her flat stomach, not seeming to see the queasy, uneasy twist to his wife’s smile, “Rabé! We’re having a baby!”.

Obi-Wan, wonderful man that he was, commed Anakin right then, and he rushed off in a good mood to leave Rabé with a crying Padmé once he was gone – because this wasn’t the time to have a child, her marriage was still a secret, and what if Anakin died and she had to raise her child without him.


	8. Chapter 8

**19 BBY**

As the Republic died amongst the cheers of the Senate, as the Empire rose from its ashes once the Jedi had been massacred, Rabé was on Naboo while Padmé’s body was led through the streets to be set out on the water and sunk in the Queen’s Tributary like her predecessors.

Bail had personally delivered her body, and told her that Obi-Wan had taken one child into hiding while the other was with him, because the children were Force-sensitive and the Emperor would take them and make them into monsters. He stayed there, for the funeral, walking behind Padmé’s family – her father and mother, older sister and her husband, and her two nieces.

Rabé had carried her friend’s casket with Sabé, Eirtaé, Yané, and Saché, each donned in black Handmaiden’s robes provided by Neeyutnee.

Quarsh had led the rifle salute, with Gregar by his side and his second, while Padmé’s parents had pushed her into the water.

Then they’d all brought flowers forward and set them afloat after their Queen as the Gungans rose up out of the water, gently caught the sealed casket, and guided it down to the depths where it would rest alongside tens of generations of queens and kings.

Rabé had joined her sister in bracketing the Nabierré family in from the crowd, giving them space from the apologies and laments of a people united in grief.

It was once the crowd thinned some, that she told Padmé’s family the fate of her children and why neither had come home like Padmé had intended for when her duties at the Senate would call her back to Coruscant.

~

Padmé’s funeral was the last time they stood together.

As a new Queen was named, after Neeyutnee abdicated under pressure from the Emperor two years early, Rabé had snuck in – with Eirtaé’s help – to meet Apailana who’d she’d met only once when the young girl, barely twelve, had approached Padmé earlier in the year with her intent of running for Queen after Neeyutnee. Padmé had supported her, and Rabé wanted that support returned when she put herself forward as Padmé’s successor as Senator.

Her sister did not intend to return to Coruscant for any other reason than to spit on the Emperor’s face for the story he’d made up of rogue Jedi killing Padmé when they suspected he’d had a hand in her death, to kill him herself, or to space him to a sun – alive or dead. Instead, she went and joined Yané and Saché in preparing to make an army out of their militias, and Jamillia went with her.

Neeyutnee instead, became her Aide.

Eirtaé became Apailana’s Captain Panaka, as Quarsh insisted on being her security with his nephew, Gregar.

The Nabierré family retreated from Naboo’s spotlight to grieve in private.

Rabé tried to remain in contact with them, but they’d circled the wagons around the two little girls and went radio silent.

Her last message to them, and one that she sent to all of them, was that she would paint a red scar of remembrance on her lip for Padmé, and they were welcome to join her in memorial for the woman that had brought them all together.

**Author's Note:**

> Proofread by Anesor


End file.
